GIFT  or 


V- 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY 


ADDRESS  DELIVERED,  BY  INVITATION  OF 
THE  DIRECTORS,  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF 
THE  ONE  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY 
OF  THE  SEMINARY  IN  ALEXANDER 
HALL,     PRINCETON,      NEW     JERSEY 

BY 
CHARLES   BEATTY   ALEXANDER,  LL.D. 

PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY  AND  WASHINGTON  AND  JEFFERSON  COLLEGE 


MAY   THE  SIXTH,    MCMXII 


PRINTED    FOR    THE    SEMINARY 
1912 


\ 


05"' 


^ 


>>^- 


^ 


THE  TROW  PRESS 
NEW  YORK 


PRINCETON    IN    ITS    EARLY 
ENVIRONMENT   AND   WORK. 

Henri  Rochefort  has  said  that  after  men 
become  fit  for  nothing  else  they  write  reminis- 
cences. 

When  the  invitation  came  to  me  to  deliver 
one  of  the  addresses  on  this  memorable  occa- 
sion, I,  with  the  sensitiveness  natural  to  men  of 
my  years,  was  tempted  to  think,  from  the  sub- 
ject assigned  to  me,  that  the  committee  per- 
haps imagined  me  a  contemporary  of  the 
fathers  of  this  institution,  and  hence  able  to 
speak  from  personal  knowledge  of  its  early 
days.  The  committee  would  not  have  been 
far  wrong,  if  this  had  been  their  impression. 
It  so  happens  that  I  spent  a  portion  of  every 
year  from  1850  to  1859,  in  the  kindly  hospi- 
tality of  the  old  Alexander  house,  and  like  most 
early  impressions,  the  recollections  of  that  time 
are  most  vivid. 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  died  in  October, 
1 85 1,  and  I  do  not  recall  him. 


Owing  to  the  limitations  of  time,  portions  of  this  address  were  omitted. 

3 


I  well  remember  being  taken  as  a  little  boy 
to  see  Dr.  Hodge  in  the  house  across  the 
campus,  and  being  told  not  to  forget  that  I  was 
to  meet  one  of  the  great  scholars  of  the  age. 

At  the  period  I  have  mentioned,  the  only 
buildings  on  the  campus  were  what  is  now 
called  Alexander  Hall,  the  Miller  Chapel,  and 
the  old  Library.  It  was  a  great  source  of  in- 
terest to  me  to  visit  a  little  museum,  on  the  first 
floor  of  the  Seminary.  It  contained  a  few 
shells  from  the  South  Seas,  and  copper  coins. 
There  were  also  some  beads,  which  I  under- 
stood were  the  costume  of  dusky  converts  be- 
fore they  adopted  the  traditional  garb  of  civil- 
ization. There  were,  moreover,  certain  idols 
in  the  cases,  which,  in  my  early  innocence,  I 
supposed  might  occasionally,  in  moments  of 
backsliding  be  worshiped  by  the  students, 
but  later  learned  that  they  had  been  sent  home 
by  missionaries,  after  being  discarded  by  their 
disciples,  very  much  as  the  Indian  braves  of 
the  day  sent  home  to  their  lodges  the  scalps  of 
the  conquered. 

Above  all,  I  remember  the  current  of  life 
which  flowed  through  the  house.  The  family 
then  consisted  of  Joseph  Addison  Alexander, 
and  his  two  brothers,  William  and  Archibald, 
and  their  sister,  Janetta.  Hardly  a  day  passed 
4 


without  a  visit  from  some  returning  graduate 
or  eminent  personage  from  abroad,  and  there 
were  frequent  calls  from  the  other  members  of 
the  faculty.  I  remember  the  intense  interest 
shown  in  the  work  of  every  graduate,  and  the 
eagerness  with  which  all  news  of  the  alumni 
was  sought.  The  early  Professors  always  kept 
their  hands  on  their  former  students,  where- 
ever  they  might  be,  the  hands  of  sympathy,  of 
imagination,  of  Christian  love.  I  have  since 
thought,  that  this  interest  bound  the  graduates 
very  closely  to  their  Alma  Mater. 

Of  course,  I  recall  Dr.  Addison  Alexander 
and  all  his  well  known  peculiarities.  In  a  few 
lessons  he  sought  to  make  me  a  great  Oriental 
scholar,  but  I  clearly  proved  that  the  mantle 
of  Elijah  had  not  fallen  on  Elisha. 

Before  leaving  these  personal  reminiscences, 
let  me  say  that  I  have  had  great  pleasure  in 
sending  to  the  Seminary  Library  the  English 
Bible  which  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  used 
daily  for  over  thirty  years.  It  contains  the 
entry  of  the  births  and  baptism  of  his  children 
in  his  own  handwriting.  In  the  cover.  Dr. 
Alexander  pasted  several  verses,  which  form 
the  best  possible  clue  to  his  character.  They 
are  as  follows:  "  To  love  Him  with  all  the 
heart  and  with  all  the  soul  and  with  all  the 


strength  is  more  than  all  whole  burnt  offerings 
and  sacrifices."  "  I  dwell  with  Him  that  is  of 
a  contrite  and  humble  spirit."  "  But  to  do 
good  and  to  communicate  forget  not."  "  The 
Lord  is  nigh  unto  them  which  are  of  a  broken 
heart  and  saveth  such  as  be  of  a  contrite  spirit." 
Well  may  it  have  been  said  of  him  by  his 
biographer  that  at  the  time  of  his  call  to 
Princeton  •*  no  man  of  eminence  could  think 
more  humbly  of  himself."  From  the  worn 
appearance  of  portions  of  the  book,  it  would 
seem  that  the  Psalms  and  the  major  prophets 
were  the  most  frequently  read.  I  have  also 
sent  to  the  Library  an  ancient  Hebrew  Old 
Testament,  used  daily  by  Dr.  James  Waddel 
Alexander,  and  another  read  by  Joseph  Addi- 
son Alexander  from  1828  until  his  death. 

Let  me  now  turn  to  the  subject  assigned  to 
me.  Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  con- 
dition of  the  country  at  the  time  of  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Seminary.  In  181 1,  the  people 
were  preparing  for  the  expected  war  with 
England.  The  things  common  to  a  new 
country  characterized  American  life.  Travel- 
ing facilities  were  poor.  There  was  not  a 
steamboat  west  of  New  York  City.  Trans- 
portation between  Princeton  and  Philadelphia 
was  by  coach.  In  these  days  of  the  railway, 
6 


bicycle,  motor,  telegraph,  telephone,  photo- 
graph, and  electricity  in  all  its  forms,  one  can 
hardly  imagine  the  primitive  character  of 
our  national  life. 

The  educational  advantages  in  the  country 
were  far  from  what  they  are  today.  Harvard, 
Yale,  Princeton,  and  some  lesser  colleges  set 
the  standard,  but  the  school  facilities  were 
limited,  and  the  teaching  inferior.  The  moral- 
ity of  the  people  was  characterized  by  the 
laxness  of  a  new  land,  and  strange  sects  sprang 
up,  "Halcyon,"  "New  Light,"  and  the  like, 
due  in  a  large  degree  to  a  lack  of  religious 
training. 

Sharing  in  the  general  educational  and 
moral  depression,  theological  education  was 
at  a  low  ebb.  Ministers  were  being  prepared 
either  by  private  instructors,  or  by  what  they 
could  pick  up  in  their  college  courses.  This 
condition  is  indicated  in  "  The  Brief  Account 
of  the  Rise,  etc.  of  the  Seminary,"  published 
in  1822.  It  states  that  the  founders  deeply 
lamented  the  want  of  such  an  institution,  and 
saw  with  much  pain  the  extreme  disadvantage 
under  which  their  candidates  for  the  ministry 
labored,  in  pursuing  their  theological  studies. 
They  saw  young  men  with  very  small  previous 
acquirements  in  literature  and  science,  after 
7 


devoting  only  twelve  or  eighteen  months,  and 
in  some  instances  much  less,  to  the  study  of 
theology,  and  even  for  that  short  time  almost 
wholly  without  suitable  help,  taking  on  them- 
selves the  most  weighty  and  responsible  of  all 
offices. 

But  in  spite  of  the  gloomy  outlook,  intellec- 
tual, moral,  and  spiritual  life  was  beginning  to 
revive. 

Something  vital  happens  before  the  green 
blade  appears.  Although  at  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century  there  seemed  little  hope  of  im- 
provement, the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century  showed  a  marvelous  renaissance,  of 
which  the  foundation  of  the  Seminary  forms  a 
part. 

There  was  a  reaction  proceeding  in  Europe 
from  eighteenth  century  infidelity.  W.  G. 
Ward  in  his  recently  published  Life  of 
Newman  says  that  this  reaction  was  heralded 
in  1802  by  Chateaubriand's  Genie  du  Chris- 
tianisme. 

The  great  idea  of  Christian  Foreign  Missions 
was  born  at  the  Haystack  meeting  in  1806. 
The  temperance  movement  began  in  Morean, 
New  York,  in  1 806,  when  a  society  was  formed 
pledging  its  members  to  drink  rum  only  on 
special  occasions.  The  first  missionary  society 
8 


was  founded  in  1806.  Twenty-four  benevo- 
lent societies,  the  first  growth  of  the  immense 
charities  of  our  own  day,  were  incorporated 
in  the  first  decade.  The  New  Jersey  Bible 
Society  was  founded  in  181 5,  and  shortly 
afterwards  the  American  Bible  Society. 

The  life  manifested  in  these  agencies,  so 
new  and  so  startling,  is  also  to  be  remarked 
in  the  Government.  The  appearance  of  Clay, 
Calhoun,  Webster,  Cheves  and  Lowndes,  at 
Washington,  revealed  a  determination  to  end 
the  humiliating  trade  difficulties  with  France 
and  England  by  an  aggressive  war. 

With  this  new  spirit  so  manifest  in  the 
political  and  social  life  of  the  country,  the 
Church  awakened  to  its  responsibilities  and 
opportunities  as  it  had  not  done  before.  The 
leadership  in  thought  as  well  as  in  action  fell 
upon  men  unprepared  by  education  to  bear 
them.  As  a  response  to  the  call  of  the  time, 
loud  and  insistent,  Princeton  Seminary  was 
born.  The  men  who  promoted  it  appreciated 
that  on  the  one  hand  an  ignorant  ministry  is 
a  national  misfortune,  and  that  on  the  other,  a 
cultivated,  educated  ministry  is  a  national 
blessing.  Therefore,  the  organization  of  this 
Seminary  was  not  only  a  religious,  but  a 
patriotic  service. 

9 


It  is  remarkable  that  the  founders  of  the 
Seminary  made  it  independent  of  any  college 
already  in  existence.  It  would  have  been  easy 
to  graft  it  upon  Nassau  Hall.  Indeed,  in  1805, 
the  College  of  New  Jersey  showed  considerable 
uneasiness  at  the  project  of  a  separate  semi- 
nary, for  the  trustees  sent  a  communication 
to  the  Assembly  setting  forth,  that  the  college 
was  founded  with  a  particular  view  to  furnish- 
ing men  for  the  ministry,  that  the  trustees  were 
devoted  to  this  object,  and  that  an  opportunity 
was  afforded  by  the  college  for  the  study  of 
divinity.  This  exhibits  the  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  public  sentiment,  when  the 
object  of  so  many  universities  and  colleges 
now  is  to  secularize  learning. 

The  plan  for  the  Seminary  adopted  by  the 
Assembly  of  181 1  described  the  kind  of  men 
it  was  desirous  of  supplying  to  the  Church  in 
words  which  might  well  have  been  written  by 
John  Calvin.  The  author  was  Ashbel  Green. 
'•  It  is  to  form  men  for  the  Gospel  Ministry, 
who  shall  truly  believe  and  cordially  love,  and 
therefore  endeavor  to  propagate  and  defend 
that  system  of  religious  belief  and  practice 
which  is  set  forth  in  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
and  thus  to  extend  the  influence  of  true  evan- 
gelical piety  and  gospel  order. " 
10 


This  Seminary  has  been  called  "the  Home 
of  Calvinism."  To-day  no  thinking  man  should 
be  ashamed  of  the  title.  Any  institution  might 
be  proud  to  furnish  to  the  Church  men  whose 
ideas  of  liberty  and  justice,  whose  zeal  and  love 
for  men,  whose  scholarship  and  power  are  char- 
acteristic of  the  school  of  Calvin. 

Calvin  had  died  two  hundred  years  before 
this  Seminary  was  founded,  but  just  as  his 
theology  had  persisted,  so  did  his  views  of  an 
educated  Protestant  clergy  continue  to  in- 
fluence the  Presbyterians  of  the  world.  He 
had  a  fine  jealousy  as  to  the  character  and 
competence  of  his  professors.  He  was  himself 
professor  of  theology.  His  theological  grad- 
uates were  described  by  a  French  bishop 
as  •*  modest,  grave,  with  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  on  their  lips."  He  made  Bossuet  and 
Massilon  possible.  On  his  return  from  Ge- 
neva, John  Knox  copied  Calvin's  methods  of 
education,  and  these  ideas  were  brought  here 
by  our  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  and  Puritan 
ancestors. 

Michelet  said  of  Calvin's  disciples :  "  If  in 
any  part  of  Europe  blood  and  torture  were 
required,  a  man  to  be  burnt  or  broken  on  the 
wheel,  that  man  was  at  Geneva  ready  to  de- 
part, giving  thanks  to  God  and  singing  Psalms 
II 


to  him."  If  it  be  thought  that  this  is  an  ex- 
cessive estimate  of  the  character  and  heroism 
of  the  present  day  Presbyterian  minister,  let 
me  quote  from  the  report  of  the  famine  and 
cholera  of  1900  in  Gugerat  made  by  Sir  Fred- 
eric Lely,  one  of  India's  greatest  administra- 
tors. He  says :  "  There  was  Milligan,  Pres- 
byterian missionary,  who,  when  he  heard  that 
the  district  was  in  sore  need  of  strong  men, 
volunteered  to  help  and  was  put  in  charge  of 
a  thousand  persons  on  whom  cholera  had  al- 
ready taken  hold  on  a  relief  work.  There  was 
Mawhinney,  also  a  Presbyterian  missionary, 
who  also  took  a  similar  trust  in  the  adjoining 
native  state  of  Sunth.  Each  of  them  took  up 
his  abode  among  the  people  in  a  hut  like  their 
own;  he  restored  order  and  cleanliness;  he  in- 
stilled some  of  his  own  courage;  and  then 
each  within  a  month  of  the  other  was  stricken 
with  the  disease  from  which  he  had  saved 
others,  and  died  the  death  of  a  Christian." 
Such  men  have  always  been  among  the  grad- 
uates of  this  Seminary. 

The  early  professors  here  seem  to  have 
been  imbued  with  Calvin's  ideals  and  with  his 
spirit,  in  that  he  is  described  as  a  man  of  in- 
vincible calm,  of  balanced  speech,  gentle  to- 
ward weakness,  severe  toward  vice,  severest 


of  all  toward  himself.  Beza  in  his  dedication 
of  Calvin's  •'  Petits  Traictes  "  to  the  Duchess  of 
Ferrara  declares  that  Calvin  was  of  such  integ- 
rity of  conscience,  that  he  fled  from  all  vain 
subtle  sophistries,  and  all  ambitious  ostenta- 
tion, and  never  sought  anything  but  the  pure 
and  simple  truth. 

It  is  evident  from  the  writings  of  the  first 
professors  that  they  had  Calvin's  character 
and  work  in  mind,  as  they  attempted  their 
important  task.  Dr.  Miller  in  his  inaugural 
address  pointed  out  that  witnesses  for  the 
truth  in  the  dark  ages  were  all  friends  of 
sound  learning,  and  he  closed  by  saying: 
"Wickliffe,  Luther  and  Calvin  are  all  gone,  but 
the  Kingdom  of  Christ  did  not  die  with  them. 
It  still  lives  and  it  will  live  forever."  Dr. 
Alexander  wrote  shortly  after  to  a  friend : 
'•  We  go  on  here  upon  our  old  moderate  plan, 
teaching  the  doctrines  of  Calvinism,  but  not 
disposed  to  consider  every  man  a  heretic  who 
differs  in  some  few  points  from  us."  Earlier, 
in  the  stirring  circular  issued  by  the  General 
Assembly  in  1816  in  aid  of  the  Seminary,  ref- 
erence is  made  to  Calvin,  as  one  of  those 
who  have  done  more  for  the  illustration  and 
defence  of  the  common  salvation,  than  hosts  of 
unlettered,  though  pious,  ministers.  Truly,  to 
13 


use  Comtes'  aphorism,  "  The  living  are  dom- 
inated by  the  dead." 

Let  me  now  briefly  allude  to  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  Seminary  during  this  early  period. 
It  is  difficult  in  this  age  of  specialization  to 
realize  all  that  the  first  professors  did.  By 
them  the  plan  of  the  theological  curriculum 
was  developed  into  substantially  what  it 
is  to-day.  They  themselves  taught  every 
branch  of  the  theological  encyclopedia.  In 
the  revival  of  1 815,  the  professors  threw  them- 
selves into  the  work  with  all  their  heart. 
They  preached  frequently  in  Princeton  and  in 
the  neighboring  towns.  Their  sermons  might 
serve  as  examples  to  those  whose  ideas  of 
evangelistic  preaching  do  not  include  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  Calvinistic  theology. 
Dr.  Alexander  was  not  content  to  teach 
simply  a  system  of  doctrine.  He  aimed  to 
send  out  warriors  of  the  Cross.  To  this  end, 
he  studied  the  religions  of  heathenism,  and 
the  erroneous  faiths  of  every  age,  and  he 
knew  what  should  be  said  to  refute  their  doc- 
trines. A  fresh  examination  of  the  literature 
relating  to  Dr.  Alexander,  and  of  the  books 
which  he  wrote  convinces  me  that  too  much 
stress  has  been  laid  on  his  sweetness  of 
character,  great  piety  and  spiritual  common 
14 


sense,  and  too  little  on  his  profound  and 
varied  learning,  marvelous  for  the  place  and 
time. 

It  is  hardly  fitting  for  me  to  say  too  much 
about  my  grandfather  and  his  sons,  but  too 
much  cannot  be  said  of  Dr.  Samuel  Miller, 
who  united  patience,  learning  and  eloquence 
with  all  the  social  and  courtly  graces  and  the 
most  fervent  piety.  He  came  to  Princeton 
the  year  after  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  and 
found  the  curriculum  created  and  the  means 
for  maintaining  the  religious  life  of  the  stu- 
dents perfected.  He  was  of  inestimable  use  in 
forming  the  manners  and  bearing  of  future 
ministers.  Perhaps  his  example  and  precepts 
extend  to  the  present  day.  I  often  reread  his 
book  on  Public  Prayer,  full  of  good  sense 
and  of  a  quiet  and  appropriate  humor.  It 
was  fortunate  for  the  infant  institution  that  its 
two  heads  should  be  so  different  in  type :  Dr. 
Miller,  with  his  long  training  of  city  life  as 
Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in 
New  York,  brought  to  the  Seminary  the  ex- 
perience of  the  metropolitan  pulpit,  and  Dr. 
Alexander,  whose  great  characteristic  was  a 
tender  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others,  a 
ripe  scholarship  and  the  simplicity  which  is 
characteristic  of  most  profound  thinkers. 
IS 


Thomas  Chalmers  said  :  "  The  Heraldry  of 
an  Institution  of  Learning  is  its  Alumni." 
And  perhaps  Dr.  Alexander's  and  Dr.  Miller's 
greatest  contribution  to  the  Seminary  was 
an  early  appreciation  of  Charles  Hodge.  As  a 
student,  he  developed  into  a  man  of  massive 
learning,  sound  exegesis  and  great  skill  as  a 
teacher.  I  am  glad  to  allude  to  the  intimate 
personal  friends  of  my  father,  his  sons,  Archi- 
bald Alexander  Hodge,  who  by  the  flame  of 
his  genius  made  even  the  darkest  theology 
glow  with  an  almost  supernatural  light,  and 
Casper  Wistar  Hodge,  who  with  the  modesty 
and  reserve  of  a  great  scholar,  made  the  New 
Testament  new  in  another  sense  to  successive 
classes  of  faithful  and  admiring  students. 

Just  as  a  faculty  may  be  judged  by  the  stu- 
dents, the  product  of  their  training,  so  the  trend 
of  thought  in  the  Seminary's  life  may  be 
judged  by  the  contributions  of  its  faculty  to 
the  current  literature  of  the  day.  The  Biblical 
Repertory  begun  in  1828,  gives  a  good  idea  of 
Princeton's  thought,  as  developed  during  the 
sixteen  preceding  years,  for  it  is  fair  to  assume 
that  it  contained  the  ripe  result  of  the  profess- 
ors various  studies  during  that  period.  I  call 
your  attention  to  a  few  subjects  on  which  they 
wrote  in  the  earlier  numbers.  Dr.  Miller  wrote 
16 


a  review  of  Cook  on  the  Invalidity  of  Presby- 
terian Ordination,  and  on  certain  extremes  in 
pursuing  the  temperance  cause,  which  recalls 
the  fact,  that  in  one  of  his  first  letters  af- 
ter arriving  in  Princeton,  he  offered  to  send 
Mrs.  Green,  through  President  Ashbel  Green 
some  very  good  claret.  Another  subject  was 
"Use  of  Liturgies,"  another  "Thoughts  on 
Evangelizing  the  World,"  and  in  1821  he 
published  his  "Letters  on  Unitarianism."  The 
following  were  contributed  by  Dr.  Alexander : 
"  The  Bible  a  Key  to  the  Phenomena  of  the 
Natural  World,"  "Priesthood  of  Christ," 
"  Pelagianism,"  "Inability  of  Sinners,"  "Chris- 
tian Baptism,"  "  Organization  of  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church,"  "  Character  of  the  Genuine  Theo- 
logian," "Articles  of  the  Synod  of  Dort," 
"  The  Foundation  of  Opinions  and  the  Pur- 
suit of  Truth,"  "  Melancthon  on  Sin,"  "  Cate- 
chism of  the  Council  of  Trent,"  "  English  Dis- 
senters," "Evidences  of  a  New  Heart,"  "The 
Scottish  Seceders,"  "Woods  on  Depravity," 
"  Synington  on  the  Atonement,"  "  Practical 
View  of  Regeneration."  His  books  on  the 
Canon,  Moral  Science  and  Religious  Experi- 
ence, will  not  be  forgotten.  It  is  not  necessary 
in  the  presence  of  such  an  audience  to  com- 
ment on  the  breadth  and  depth  of  these  topics. 
17 


If  there  were  time  here  to-day,  we  might 
leave  the  beaten  tracks  of  those  days  and 
hear  the  voices  of  the  early  professors 
speaking  through  their  students  in  quiet  vil- 
lages and  lonely  hamlets,  on  frontiers  and  in 
the  wilderness,  in  foreign  lands  and  at  home. 
The  memory  of  these  men  is  not  preserved 
on  any  stone  or  monument,  nor  is  it  best  kept 
alive  even  in  the  Seminary  so  beloved  by 
them,  but  in  the  truth  which  they  implanted 
in  ministers'  lives  and  handed  on  by  them  to 
homes  widely  scattered,  to  burdened,  toiling, 
sinning  men  and  women,  to  whom  it  meant 
pardon,  peace  and  eternal  hope,  to  children 
whose  plastic  lives  were  moulded ;  to  the 
heathen  world,  to  whom  it  came  as  the  shin- 
ing of  the  Star  of  Bethlehem.  In  these 
things  are  indelibly  written  the  testimony  of 
the  Church  and  of  the  world  to  the  founders 
of  this  Seminary. 

No  one  who  has  studied  the  history  of 
this  great  school  can  fail  to  be  impressed  by 
the  sincere  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  its 
founders,  which  has  been  manifested  to  those 
who  succeeded  them.  There  are  many  who 
do  not  agree  with  these  principles,  but  they 
must  be  constrained  to  admire  this  tenacity 
and  constancy,  considering  the  atmosphere  of 
i8 


unstable  equilibrium  in  which  the  theological 
world  lives  and  moves. 

In  visiting  the  graveyard  here,  I  sometimes 
think  that  even  if  all  other  records  were  to  be 
destroyed,  a  history  of  Princeton  and  its  insti- 
tutions might  almost  be  reconstructed  from 
the  inscriptions  on  those  venerable  tombs — 
the  tombs  of  presidents,  professors  and  other 
benefactors  who  did  loyal  service  to  the  Sem- 
inary and  to  the  University. 

There  is  one  group  of  graves  which  I  can- 
not look  upon  without  personal  emotion  and 
unspeakable  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  those,  all  of 
whom  loved  Princeton,  and  of  some  who  had 
for  this  institution  a  paternal  as  well  as  a  filial 
affection.  It  is  a  comfort  and  encouragement 
to  turn  to  this  Seminary — a  living  monument, 
in  which  I  trust  my  family  may  claim  a  share. 

One  does  not  have  to  be  a  professional  the- 
ologian to  be  aware  that  the  kind  of  thought 
for  which  Princeton  Seminary  has  always 
stood  most  firmly  is  now  attacked  persistently 
from  many  quarters.  Voices  come  to  us  from 
across  the  sea  and  are  raised  here  at  home 
telling  us  that  the  sun  is  fast  setting  upon  the 
old  faith,  and  that  the  doctrines  taught  here 
will  pass  away  like  those  of  the  Athenian  and 
Roman  schools.  It  may  be  said  that  in  our 
19 


own  country  the  seminary  stands  in  a  some- 
what isolated  position.  Isolation  has  been  the 
portion  of  the  exponents  of  truth  in  all  ages. 
Although  not  an  expert  in  these  things,  I  ven- 
ture to  predict  that  if  the  sort  of  theology 
which  is  taught  here  should  die,  and  if  its  en- 
emies should  grant  it  decent  burial,  like  the 
Lord  of  Life  Himself,  it  will  have  a  trium- 
phant resurrection. 

Yet  even  if  these  sinister  prophecies  of  the 
foes  of  Princeton  theology  should  be  fulfilled 
to  the  uttermost,  if  this  Seminary  should  per- 
ish amid  the  ruins  of  its  great  traditions,  I 
should  wish  that  its  remains  might  be  marked 
and  made  memorable  by  a  Cross.  For  it  is 
the  Cross  which  has  been  the  inspiration  of  its 
founders  and  their  successors,  even  as  it  is  the 
hope  and  the  glory  of  this  passing  world. 
For  the  Gospel  which  it  teaches  is  an  uncon- 
querable force.  The  Cross  which  it  uplifts  is 
the  world's  greatest  power.  And  by  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Cross,  this  Seminary  will  stand  in 
spite  of  attack,  in  spite  of  any  storm  of  criti- 
cism or  unbelief  until  its  work  is  done,  and 
God  comes  to  take  the  talent  given  to  our 
fathers,  from  whom  we  have  received  it  with  its 
increase,  to  the  praise  of  His  eternal  glory. 


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